Policy statement on regional strategies and guidance on the establishment of leaders’ boards: consultation <br> <br> In late July, Communities and Local Government (CLG) published the above consultation, reflecting the provisions of the Local democracy, economic development and construction Bill which should achieve Royal Assent in the autumn. The policy statement proposes to combine the existing regional spatial strategies (RSS) with the regional economic strategies into an integrated document for a regional strategy, effectively making regional assemblies (RAs) obsolete. The strategies will instead be managed by regional development agencies (RDAs) and local authority leaders’ boards. Five of the eight regional regions have leaders’ boards in place which will replace the existing RAs. One of the Strategies’ key responsibilities is to demonstrate how the region will meet its housing need and demand, based on robust evidence. Andrew Whitaker, HBF’s planning director, pointed out that the requirements for the new regional strategies were “sketchy”, particularly regarding the housing targets, especially as there appears to be no explicit requirement for the strategies to contain an overall housing target or a district by district housing requirement figure. “The proposed change does not appear to be good news,” Whitaker stated. “RAs used to contain representatives …